As I prepare for my first days as Principal

Well, I haven’t been a prolific writer in the past years, but I have maintained the site as there are some posts that continue to receive hits daily for various reasons. However, in those years I have been working diligently as an Assistant Principal at a rural Alberta school and in the spring I was named as Principal of a grade 6-12 school for the 2019-20 school year. There are so many different aspects of my journey that I could discuss, but I was inspired to sit down and write because I am now preparing, for the first time, to lead a school when I head back to work in the coming week. It’s time to revive this blog and get some great discussion about education happening again. Keep in mind that I am open for discussion anytime on Twitter (@mrdkeenan).

This summer has been one of contemplating my leadership style, trying to read as much as possible to support me and developing a great understanding of my team and school culture. I feel fortunate to have been posted to a school that is central to their community, with a strong student leadership contingent and a great team as a staff. As I enter the school year, I don’t feel as though the school is in chaos in any way, and look forward to meeting students, parents and community members in the opening days.

And I suppose that is the point of this post. All general logistics aside, my focus will be on developing relationships with staff, parents and getting to know the students as quickly as possible so they begin to understand who I am and what I’m about. As I have stated above, the school is in a good place, so I know the previous Principal did a great job of this during his tenure at the school. So what are the exact steps I will be taking?

• I have been reading a number of titles focused on school culture, relationship building and development; they have given me many ideas about the possibilities a new leadership position may bring (I will be posting on my summer reading list and learnings soon)
• I will be sending out an email before the staff come back, inviting them to a personal conversation in which we will get to know each other better and they can let me know how they see themselves in relation to the school and culture.
• When we start up for the fall, I will be visible and present as much as possible for students and parents to get to know me. This will include a welcome message and video on the school website and social media accounts.
• Mainly, I plan on honouring what is in place in the school as much as possible. There is no need for me to come in with a ‘heavy hand’ and shift things that are working. I will be spending the first weeks learning about our school and the needs we have. I will be an active support to start, learning all the while.

Any thoughts on this? What would you be focused on if you were looking at your first days as a school Principal? Please comment below or reach out on Twitter.

Presentations and Resources for Palliser District Teachers’ Convention 2019

Once again I have the privilege of presenting at the PDTC to amazing peers in education. While I have nothing close to ‘all the answers,’ I appreciate the opportunity these sessions give me to learn from others and clarify for others what has worked for me and my context. If you are looking for resources to support what was discussed in the sessions, please see the information attached below!

2019-collaborative-writingDownload

novel-writing-assignment-20-1Download

2019-innovative-leadership-for-a-better-worldDownload

2019-pbl-as-a-teaching-philosophyDownload

Innovative Leadership for a Better World #swatca18 #pdtca18

This year I have the opportunity to present a session on Innovative Leadership at both Palliser District Teacher’s Convention and South West Alberta Teacher’s Convention. You can download a PDF of the presentation below:

Innovative Leadership for a Better World

This presentation was originally presented at the Canadian Student Leadership Conference 2017 in Waterloo, Ontario. It was amazing to see the response of the students to concepts such as servant leadership and growth mindsets. We have so much to gain with our students and in our society if we focus on fostering growth mindset and looking for opportunities to serve in our world.

Let me know your thoughts on Twitter: @mrdkeenan

Thanks for reading!

 

Project-Based Learning as a Teaching Philosophy #swatca18 #pdtca18

This year I have the opportunity to present a session on Project Based Learning at both Palliser District Teacher’s Convention and South West Alberta Teacher’s Convention. You can download a PDF of the presentation below:

PBL as a Teaching Philosophy

This presentation is near and dear to me as it speaks to my beginnings in PBL; I started out designing a collaborative novel writing project that I have used with multiple grade levels. These projects may not always be the answer in the classroom, but certainly create exceptional learning experiences that students remember. As you read through the presentation, please feel free to reach out in the comments, or message me on Twitter: @mrdkeenan

What choices do your students have each day?

I was thinking today about the choices we give students.  When I look at my classroom through the eyes of a student, what would I see in terms of my personal choice? How many times during the day could I offer my unique perspectives, an answer that isn’t exactly what the teacher wants? Some days I think it could be very challenging in school to just have no opinions. Yet, so many of our students experience this very thing on a daily basis; moving from class to class with only notes to write, questions to answer and results to find.

My hope is that you looked at the title of this post and could easily list off the ways your students are able to take charge of their learning, how they can make their learning count in every minute of your class.  If you aren’t there yet, maybe there are some ways to integrate student choice into your learning environment.

Create an independent choice project

As a high school English teacher, I often felt constrained by the requirements of curriculum to teach and follow certain texts.  Not a great deal of choice right? What I found is that there was more there than I had considered.  Not only could I vary how a student approached the text, but I could also vary the required outcome.  So though I as the teacher may have wanted a certain learning outcome associated with each project, sometimes the students were better at choosing what was important about each project for themselves.  As long as they knew the overall outcomes for the course, flexibility in the response was a worthwhile expression of their autonomy.  Often it meant that they would complete assignments that they didn’t want to in order to get to do what they had a strong desire to work on.

Make choice part of the process

Even if there isn’t an immediate method to create choice in the content of the project; solicit initial thoughts, beliefs and feedback in the  introduction, feedback loops or review of an assignment.  Often there are ways to give students choice in their manner of responding to their learning, if we take the time to do it.  Think about the things that seem most resistant to giving students choice, those items that require direct instruction or monitoring perhaps. Even giving the students a moment to speak about what they feel about that learning process can be beneficial.  As an adult learner, I know that time to reflect on my learning with someone else is often as useful to keeping me involved in the learning as if I were doing the steering of the learning myself. Better yet if that feedback is collected and has some impact in the learning process.

Making choices allows us to feel a little more in control of our learning process, and can ultimately be the difference between what a student “Had to do,” at school versus what they “Got to do.” I’m always hopeful as a teacher and a parent that the latter perspective is the one that the students in my life are able to experience.

Don’t be Afraid of Change

Change is hard. In education, it can be downright terrifying.  As teachers, we pride ourselves on routine and having the answers for everything.  Often, a focus on routine means sticking to very specific types of teaching, assignments and assessments.  This can certainly make teaching more expedient and manageable, but I would argue that by introducing change, we often have the opportunity to make education better.  We give students a chance to experience different ways, new experiences, and some of that ever-vaulted creativity we are looking to instill in burgeoning minds.

I have changed enough in my practice and worked with enough teachers to know that you can’t change everything right away, nor should you.  Many of our practices are good, and are rooted in excellent pedagogy.  So start with something you’ve never been 100% sold on, something that doesn’t feel excellent when you teach it.  When I first did this, I found that I was so excited to get rid of the part of the course I felt was weak, the excitement got me halfway through the work it took to redesign it.

But what to do with it? That’s another challenge that teachers face when dealing with the unknown.  While there are enough theories and ideas out there to make your head spin, I would suggest picking something one of your peers is doing or has already done.  There is strength in experience, and you can always learn more about new techniques, but having someone who has already ‘walked the walk’ will give you a place to turn when inevitable challenges arise.  If you are having trouble with ideas or there is no one around to help, visit my contact page and drop me a line. Supporting teachers is what I do, and I am always willing to support as I can.  If you really have no inkling of how you’d like to change, check out Twitter, or some my previous posts such as: Creating a Buzz in your Classroom, Project-Based Learning: Writing a Classroom Novel. Also, if there is a post on a topic you are interested in that you would like to request, please do so through the contact page!  There will be more ideas and inspiration forthcoming!

Review: The Curiosity Cycle by Jonathan Mugan

I had the pleasure of being asked by Jonathan Mugan if I would give his new book The Curiosity Cycle a read and possibly a review on this blog. I was glad to oblige, any book that deals with children’s curiosity was something I am willing to take a look at.  I’m not sure if I would have come across Jonathan’s book in my regular travels, but I am certainly glad I had the opportunity to read it.  First off, this is not an education exclusive book by a long shot.  In fact, many teachers I know would intuitively teach in many of the ways Mugan describes in the book.  Teachers are innovative individuals, and curiosity is at the heart of what many excellent teachers do. 

One of the greatest traits of The Curiosity Cycle is that it is written in an accessible manner for parents.  In fact, the main audience is parents, and how to inspire a lifelong learner in your own home.  By knowing how curiosity works, a parent can ‘tune in’ to the way a child’s mind works and guide him or her to fill in knowledge gaps and extend their curiosity forward. This is an excellent image to keep in mind when interacting with children; and if you do, it quickly becomes apparent how spot-on Mugan’s perspective is. 

While I’d never really thought of curiosity as a cycle of filling in unknowns, Mugan does an excellent job of finding concrete examples of how this happens in a young mind.  This process of leading the reader through examples and then analysis of the cycle, shows the depth to which Mugan has obviously analyzed and thoughtfully presented the concept of creating and testing mental theories, developing new ones and filling in the gaps of knowledge. This is where his book becomes a great resource for teachers, because as you consider in your learning plans how a child’s mind may be inspired to learn more and seek completion of the theory they are working with, you may find your lessons become more engaging and focused on the inquiry of the students.  At least I found mine did.  

I am so happy that Jonathan reached out to me, and I feel I am that much better of a father and teacher for reading his book.  I realize the summer reading times are behind us now, but The Curiosity Cycle is a quick and easy read, one that I fully recommend.

Learning Commons; a seriously exciting shift in education

I spent my day today touring around and discussing learning commons’ in both Rocky View and in Calgary, and I have to say, it has been some time since I have been as excited about a project as I am about our school’s transition to a full-fledged learning commons.

Due to space considerations, our traditional library lost it’s conventional ‘home’ in the school two years ago (I am now teaching in that space) and at the time it was a hard feature of our school to let go of.  Our librarian worked exceptionally hard to transition the books and other physical attributes of the library throughout the school, and met with success with this reimagining of how books could be shared and used.  It was a commendable effort, and truth be told, there are many features of the learning commons around our school right now, including the open sharing of learning tools, reading and literacy resources, interconnectedness of classrooms and production of 21st century learning artifacts using embedded and transferrable technology.  However, since the inception of our broad learning commons, the one thing that has been missing is that ‘home’ of the program, that sense of place.  Our librarian has a desk, yet in the true spirit of the learning commons, the truly adaptable learning space that is tailored to student learning simply was not available.

What we saw today was the way other schools have answered the call of transitioning spaces to meet the changing needs of students for learning.  Some of the changes were subtle, (such as slips of paper that teachers send with students working independently to notify the librarian what task they will be working on) and some were profound (using the Metis system to sort books as an alternative to the Dewey decimal system) but one thing that struck me was how carefully all schools have considered the transition to be made to the new learning commons structure.  While I have done some extensive reading on this topic lately, I wanted to share a few ideas I noticed doing walkthroughs today:

• exceptional and thoughtful use of space, highlighted by specific furniture choices and configurations
• easy to transition spaces, and the ability to configure several groups in one space
• independence of students and adults with students in the use of the space and resources
• resources that were ‘common’ material (including digital tools) that could be moved within and out of the space
• open spaces and the desire for more natural light
• thought and attention given to curricular connections and ease of access to highly linked materials
• development of the library commons culture, and a desire by administration to support it as a hub of the school.
• thoughtful use of technology including limiting use to one specific task at a time
• creative solutions to issues regarding space and resources; a can-do attitude
• the use of specific technologies to simplify processes for students (a touch-screen monitor instead of mouse for checking out books)
• engaging activities to draw students and classes in
• projects that inspire collaboration

I’m not sure what our final learning commons is going to look like, but I am certainly excited to be on this journey and to be part of the team.  What a great opportunity to support learning and help create something spectacular for our students!

Remember when you were amazing

I have had a great deal of fun on chats and in working with teachers over the last little while reminiscing over some of the greatest things they have done in the classroom. We don’t often take the time to reflect back on our ‘best work,’ but many of us have exceptional ideas that we have come up with during our careers that have been ‘shelved’ for whatever reason.  Maybe it didn’t fly with the class we had, or maybe it was time consuming and we put something more expedient in its place; whatever the reason, I challenge you to go through that shelf of dreams and resurrect some of the greatness that has been you in the past.  I have done this lately, and have a big one coming up in the next week, and I can tell you that it makes a big difference to the passion you show in the classroom.  These are the ideas that strengthen us as teachers, that give us purpose and let us dream a little. Often the ‘shelved projects’ involve collaboration, outside experts or help, organization, special supplies and preparation, and because they require that little bit more, they are memorable for our students!

I know this is the time of the year when we are tired, struggling, and need that little ‘something’ to get through to the end.  Maybe we can find that little bit extra in a project we put away.  It has worked for me this week, will it work for you?  Take a moment to talk about one of these projects in the comments, I will share some of them out on Twitter and maybe we can support other teachers in need of a boost in the final stretch!

Have a great night!

Building a budget iPad cart for education

I was asked at one of my recent sessions if I could write a ‘how to’ for the iPad carts that I collaborated on building for 10 classrooms in my current school.  I am going to do that, but before I get to the ‘how,’ let me tell you the ‘why.’

When we were working toward going 1-1 with school-owned devices in our school, we realized that the process would be a drawn out one if we couldn’t cut some costs.  Retail cases, high-priced charging stations, and expensive management options were not in the cards for us. So we opted to get creative. It took some research, some elbow grease and some innovation, but we were able to come up with some very effective solutions for outfitting our devices, allowing us to get more iPads into more student hands sooner.  So, in the spirit of maximizing the little money we have in education fro these kinds of purchases, here is the process, and the pictures to help you build your own iPad mini cart!

*this cart MAY work for regular iPads as well depending how well you space the levels of the racks, but I have not tested it.

Our first goal was to find something to contain a class set of iPads.  Prior to going 1-1 in classes, we had provided 5 iPads per classroom and were using a power bar in a drawer to secure them in each room.  Clearly this was going to have to change when adding 20+ more devices.  So we looked at what could store that many iPads in one place.  One of my colleagues found a cart that fit the bill…from IKEA

The Raskog Cart was the right size to fit about 30 iPad Minis side by side on the three levels, and was available to us at only $60 per cart.  We needed some other accessories, but it was a good start.

Raskog Kitchen Cart from IKEA ($60)

Next we needed some way to keep all the iPads in the proper location on the cart. Thanks again to IKEA we found some dish racks that suited our purpose. (BOHOLMEN $9) When our local IKEA ran out we sourced some others from Amazon ($10) as well. We needed three of these racks for each cart, one on each level.

Boholmen dish rack from IKEA ($9)

 

Bamboo Wood Plate Holder from Amazon.ca

Power management was a major concern with these carts. We wanted to ensure that they would not be drawing too much power, and that we were not ‘daisy chaining’ power bars (plugging one into another.)  We had to find another way to power all these devices that would fit into fire code.  So, after some research we found these nifty devices:

Each of these 4-port USB Charging Stations can charge 4 iPad Minis using one outlet plug. It took some research to find this particular charger because most USB hubs do not charge devices, even if they are powered.  With these hubs, they are strictly meant for charging, not syncing, so they fit the bill for a classroom cart.

With no more than 28 students in each of our elementary classrooms, we could use a 7 port power bar ($20) and 7 USB hubs to power all of our iPads.  If you needed more iPads on the cart, you could source larger power bars as well.

All that was left was to run wire and use an extraordinary amount of cable ties to keep it all in place.

I started by securing the racks in place, and then laying an iPad in the first slot to  measure how far out the charging cable needed to be, leaving a little play for students so they would not have to ‘pull’ the cord.

Find the right spot for the cables, and a convenient length for each, then cable tie them into place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view from the bottom, showing how each cable is tied to the mesh frame.  I then cable tied all the cords to one side of the cart leading down.  Note that the USB cables must be fed all the way from the bottom, unless you want them to have to travel down the outside of the cart to the Antec hubs.

Lead the cables to the side and secure them to the inside of the cart leading down, Your cords will be different lengths at the bottom, but that’s ok.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once all your cables are leading through to the bottom, find the most convenient USB plug to put them in, wrap and tie down excess cord. Mine didn’t look pretty, but the key is that no cords will be hanging down and left to drag on the ground or get caught on anything.  Don’t spare the cable ties, get EVERY cord.

You can see the attached power bar, 7 plugs leading to hubs, and many wires charging happy devices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what the final product looks like in my classroom.

The finished cart, with all the iPad minis tucked in for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is compact, portable (the carts have wheels) and costs…$320 versus the thousands you could spend on a manufactured cart.  As I said earlier it takes some work, but ultimately we had much more money to spend on devices for students by using some ingenuity.  Another consideration we discussed was security, but our classroom doors remain locked in off times at our school, and during the summer months, these carts can easily be transferred to a secure location in the building.  At this time we are comfortable with that, but I know this may not be the case for all schools.  If security is a concern, you may wish to look at locking mesh bags as a security measure.

Let me know if you have questions, or found this useful.  I receive questions about our project all the time, and I am happy to respond as I can.